Mini pizzas and canapés

8-Dec-2014

If there is something we like to eat before a meal in Italy, it is certainly pizzette, which basically means mini pizzas. These delicacies are generally made out of puff pastry, which is delicious but also quite fatty. The recipe we want to share will give you some beautifully soft and quite delightful mixed canapés, which I’m sure will impress you and any guests you might have for dinner. And if the guests decide not to visit you for some reason, too bad for them and you’ll have plenty of pizzette to enjoy for yourself: priceless!

Crumble the yeast into some lukewarm water and mix well to dissolve it. If using active dry yeast, activate it as instructed to on the packet. If using instant yeast, simply mix it with the flour.

Place the dry ingredients into a bowl and stir to combine. Add in the water and mix with a fork until you obtain a rough dough.

Transfer the mixture onto a working surface and knead it until you obtain a more homogenous dough (roughly 4-5 minutes).

Transfer the dough back into a bowl, cover it with cling film and let it rise for 1 hour in a warm place.

For the whole-wheat version of the recipe, you can follow the exact same procedure.

For the gluten-free version; add the dry ingredients into a bowl, add the water mixed with the yeast and thoroughly whisk the ingredients. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes and the psyllium will turn the ingredients into a stiff mixture.

Roughly knead the mixture between your hands for a few seconds, place it into a bowl, cover it with cling film and let it rise for 30 minutes.

Once the time has elapsed, preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F).

For the gluten-free version, slightly grease your hands with some oil and transfer the dough onto a piece of greaseproof paper.

Gently press the dough to obtain a flat shape roughly half a centimeter (⅕ of an inch thick). With the help of a cookie cutter, cut out some round shapes, which are going to be our pizza bases.

The same process should be followed for the other doughs, so transfer the dough back onto the working surface and gently stretch it by hand to obtain a flat shape of roughly half centimeter (⅕ of an inch thick) and then, cut out any shape you desire.

The spare parts of dough can be baked as well to make some mini breads or even some soft breadsticks.

Transfer the pieces of dough onto an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper and pierce the bases with a fork.

Garnish the canapés with any topping you desire, and bake the mini pizzas for 5 minutes in the preheated oven to complete the dish.

Substitutions and Tips

The wholewheat flour should be sifted and then weighted.

The buckwheat flour can be substituted with any other whole gluten-free flour such as rice, teff, quinoa etc

For the standard and whole-what dough, you can substitute the active dry yeast with 0.1oz (3g) of fresh yeast or with ½ tsp (1.5g) instant yeast.

For the gluten-free dough, you can substitute the active dry yeast with 0.2oz (6g) of fresh yeast or with 1 tsp (3g) instant yeast.